Councillors agree with protesters

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: Hundreds of students staged a noisy protest as the 64 new members of the South Sumatra legislature were sworn in on Wednesday.

The protesters demanded that the councillors sign a political contract, in which they vow to stay clear of corruption and focus on improving people's welfare in designing policies.

However, only 20 of the new council members agreed to sign the contract, which also stated that they were ready to resign if they were proven to have been involved in corruption cases. The signatories included Syaiful Islam, Jamal R. Haki, Fatimah Rais, A. Gantada, Darmadi Jufri and Iqbal Romzi. --JP